So far, so good.

I've been lurking the forums for a while, but with my first night in the books, I'm pretty excited to tell my story.

After 10 years of being bugged by my wife (she was wearing earplugs for the snoring, and was telling me about how I'd stop breathing), I finally asked my GP about possible apnea, and he handed me off to a sleep specialist, who took one look down my throat and said "Whoa." Sleep studies were immediately scheduled (and rescheduled when we found that the sleep lab he works out of normally wasn't covered on my insurance.)

Last Friday (7/15) was the first study. And, as I've heard some people say (including one of my co-workers who's also using CPAP), it was one of the most miserable nights of sleep I've ever had. All those diodes, the finger monitor, the elastic straps (those were the worst!), and strict directions on how to sleep (on your back, keep your arms down). I'm usually pretty... let's say "mobile" when it comes to when I sleep, so it was an issue.

That morning, the results were pretty glaring. While they didn't have an AHI score yet, the technician was pretty blunt that there were definite issues. She said she'd never seen anybody move as much as I had during the night, and that my snoring was so loud, "your wife must love you very much." I ask her how I'll be able to wear a mask when I roll around as much as I do, and she hits me with a knowledge bomb: I'm rolling around because of my (at this point assumed) OSA. I'm floored.

Later that week, I get the call to come in that next Friday for treatment. An AHI of 39, and an O2 saturation of 90%. I nod... my research from the cpaptalk wiki has already clued me in that an AHI of over 30 is considered severe.

7/22, I pull in to the lab again, and the same tech is there. She shows me a 1-minute chart from from last time, and it is an eye-opener: 4 apneas in one minute. Seeing the brainwaves freak out on each one was kind of disturbing. It's clear: this is definitely happening.

We get to the masks, and I'm officially at the part where I'm worried. I know a nasal mask is the norm, but I'm also not sure I'll be able to handle it. I like the idea of the nasal pillows, but I'm worried that it might be too easy to remove at night (I had the same problem with headgear when I was in high school). To my surprise, the ResMed EasyLife mask they first pulled out was very comfortable. So it's decided that we'll try that mask for the study.

We get hooked up, we turn on the air, and while it's a little bizarre to work through, it's not too bad. I fall asleep surprisingly well. But that's not to say we didn't have issues: we had condensation issues more than once, and that water hitting your face is cold. We make the adjustments, and I sleep the rest of the way through the 5:30am wakeup call.

The results were plain and clear: excellent breathing all through the night, no more brain freakouts. They said they had me dialed in on pressure an hour into the study. Because of the hospital's relationship with a local DME, they already have my machine waiting for me: A PRS One REMstar Pro C-Flex+, already set to my needed pressure of 12. Along with that, another EasyLife mask. I could start that night.

Fill the humidifier, strap on the mask (NOBODY TOLD ME IT WOULD START AUTOMATICALLY, that was a shock!), and I lay down for the night. I feel like I sleep well, except for two moments: at one point I rolled onto my side and was knocking the mask off a little. And I think I got a splash of water at one point. Other than that, no issues (except my wife saying that the noises from the machine sounded like a little song, and it got stuck in her head!)

This morning, I was super eager to see what data I could get out of the SD card, so I load everything up to onkore.net. And what a difference a machine makes: last night's AHI was 3.87. There's a little hiccup in the data (I don't think I stopped breathing for 5 minutes), but the rest of it is really cool. Admittedly, still seeing some apneas is a little disturbing, but I'll take 18 a night rather than 180.

And, as it's about 2 o'clock now, which is the time of day where I start to lose my mind, I'm feeling pretty good. I am, admittedly, really happy with these early results. And I'd like to think that it's partially because of the knowledge I gained reading your forum and wiki. So thank you all. And I promise I won't be a stranger.

Welcome Culby!! It sounds like you were truly fortunate to have a great doctor, a professional lab and tech, and a great DME! You've read enough here to know the horror stories so many have with those processes.

I will leave it to those with the same machine/mask as yours to chime in on helpful hints. I will say that rainout in the hose can be eliminated or managed via a hose management system or even just a hose cozy to lower the condensation problem. I have a high headboard and snake my hose up and over that to allow water to run back down into the humidifier, and I also have a fleece hose cozy which helps to make the hose softer to the touch, eliminates the rough sounds against the headboard, and it keeps the hose warmer.

I believe the auto start can be turned off, but someone with your machine can tell you how to do that.

You are off to an amazing start..... one of the lucky ones like I was. "A duck to water..." so to speak. Here's to continued good sleep, sweet dreams, and lots of REM!

Congratulations on your sleep apnea.

LOL, by congratulations, I mean congratulations that it is not something more serious, that it was found, and that you have taken to it so well with fast results.

Good luck and sleep well!

Thanks for this encouraging "newbie" report. I've had my titration study, but I have to wait 3 more weeks before I can meet with the sleep doctor to get a CPAP prescription. I'm looking forward to starting therapy so that I'm not sleepy all the time. I was apprehensive before the titration study. However, I slept surprisingly well with the mask on all night. Your positive report further strengthens my belief that this may not be too difficult of an adjustment.

Welcome to the forum, Culby!

You sure did your research well...on cpaptalk. You sure prepared yourself well for the sleep study and for getting started on treatment. You even did your own download after your first "cpap" night. Good job! Good for you!

That was a good write-up. Interesting and fun to read.

Culby wrote: I finally asked my GP about possible apnea, and he handed me off to a sleep specialist, who took one look down my throat and said "Whoa."

That's too funny. You know it's bad when the doctor takes one look and runs screaming from the room.

Welcome to our little group.

I think too many people worry about getting rid of the last few points of AHI. I think any AHI below 4 or so isn't worth worrying about. However, it's good looking at the flow. 5 apneas of 10 seconds each per hour doesn't worry me. 1 apnea per hour of 50 seconds does worry me. I find that a lot of the "events" I look at don't look like anything important if I look at the flow graph.

Thank you all for the welcome comments.

Archangle: I'm still trying to figure out how to read the flow graph (I wish I knew why I was taking deep breaths before my apneas), but the nerd in me loves digging through data. This is going to be one of my favorite parts of this whole ordeal (well, besides having the energy to do so).

indyredsfan: That was kind of my reasoning for making the post. I know most forums frown on "HEY GUYZ ITS ME" for a first post, so I tried to make this post more than that. So, I guess I'm trying to speak as a newbie to newbies that it can go well.

Emilia: The tech at the sleep lab suggested either getting as much of the tube as you can under the sheets or the tube cozy. I think I may try looping the tube over the headboard, though. It's kinda high (or, at least, high enough). I'll have to look at the manual about turning that auto-start off.

ameriken: Thanks... I think.

Culby, I found it interesting that during your sleep study you were given strict instructions to sleep on your back with your arms at your side. I was given no such instructions, and I slept on my side like I normally do. I've read that not sleeping on your back can somewhat reduce sleep apnea, so I wonder if my results would have been worse had I been given the same instructions you were. I wonder which set of instructions for sleep studies is more common.

At my sleep study, they instructed me to sleep in different positions;
so they could determine is there was a positional factor to my apnea--there wasn't.

indyredsfan wrote:Culby, I found it interesting that during your sleep study you were given strict instructions to sleep on your back with your arms at your side. I was given no such instructions, and I slept on my side like I normally do. I've read that not sleeping on your back can somewhat reduce sleep apnea, so I wonder if my results would have been worse had I been given the same instructions you were. I wonder which set of instructions for sleep studies is more common.

It wasn't strictly "sleep on your back", but it was made very clear that the back was preferred. "Try to sleep on your back as much as you can... if you need to be on your side to fall asleep, then do that, but then try to get back to your back. No sleeping on your stomach." My guess is that it had to do with those elastic straps around the chest and waist.

And the arms down thing was to keep you from pulling any of the diodes off your head. I broke that rule.